VENTURE ARTICLES

March 3, 2009 - 1982 was one of the biggest years in videogames -- and it's also the one that lead right into the great crash. This is the year of the Vectrex and Atari 5200, the Colecovision and Commodore 64. Arcade were filled with weirdness like Joust, Q*Bert, and Pengo. We thrilled to "Starcade" and the small screen and "TRON" on the silver screen. This week's RetroCity tracks the highlights of 1982 and features a story about auditioning for "Starcade" by IGN Wireless contributor George Roush. The episode ends with a short talk about retrogaming with Colin Moriarty of IGN Guides.

March 10, 2008 - Collecting classic videogames is a passion of mine. I don't so bonkers of picking up every piece of minutiae because that level of obsession can really kill both your pocketbook and your social life. When you're passing up dates and gatherings because you have to stay home and snipe eBay auctions, you're in trouble. But collecting for fun can be a real joy for both old-timers and gamers that merged into this industry as late as the PSone.
The big catch is that you cannot just grab these classic carts and just throw them on a shelf. Where's the fun in that? Games are meant to be played, so if you're starting a library of classics, be sure to seek out the games you'll have the most fun actually playing. Once you have those, then it's time to start filling in any gaps.
I have great admiration for the Colecovision. The machine was a monster compared to the dominant Atari 2600 -- it simply outgunned it on every front. The Colecovision was capable of replicating arcade games with remarkably accuracy, and so Coleco made sure that its library was full of quarter-munchers from the pack-in Donkey Kong to more obscure coin-ops like Pepper II, Space Panic, and Venture. Despite its superior visuals and sound, though, the Colecovision just never achieved the heights of the Atari 2600. Rough estimates shows the Colecovision sold over six million units to eager home gamers (many on the strength of that DK pack-in, to be sure) before it was felled by the great crash that nearly decimated the entire industry.
Embarking on a Colecovision collection is enormously rewarding, chiefly because there are so many great game worth having. When drawing up this list, I placed fun above rarity and value -- that's why you won't see ultra-rare games like Wing War anywhere near this guide. Wing War is a fun talking point, but the game itself? Unplayable. After all, as I pointed out in our Atari 5200 Buyer's Guide, games are meant to be played. Unless you just have to have every single game for your collection, just zero in on the fun ones -- the games you'll get some actual enjoyment out of.